China Builds Bridge to Link Southern Cities

By

Jonathan Cheng

Updated Dec. 15, 2009 7:52 a.m. ET

HONG KONG -- Construction on a massive bridge linking Hong Kong with Macau and the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai began Tuesday, in an effort to more closely link three major economies of southern China.

The six-lane Y-shaped bridge across southern China's Pearl River delta will be jointly constructed by the three cities over six years and will be one of the country's most technically complicated engineering projects, requiring the creation of several artificial islands.

According to Chinese state media, the bridge will have a total length of about 50 kilometers, which would make it the longest cross-sea bridge in the world. The report cited the total cost of the bridge at about 73 billion yuan (US$10.7 billion), and the Hong Kong government said in a separate statement that it would contribute 6.75 billion yuan to the funding.

The Hong Kong government said the mainland government would commit an additional 7 billion yuan, while Macau will contribute 1.98 billion yuan. The remaining bank loans will be provided by a Bank of China-led consortium, the government said.

Tuesday's groundbreaking ceremony was officiated by China's vice-premier Li Keqiang, and attended by Wang Yang, the Communist party secretary in southern Guangdong province, and the leaders of Hong Kong and Macau.

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